I don't think any Indians season has ever lasted as long as this one has, at least not in my memory. That year when a couple of guys died in spring training, I'm sure that was worse, but we weren't as intimate with the team back then — certainly, those who were out of town weren't — when you were lucky to catch one Indians game on TV all year. With the access and immediacy and depth of coverage provided by the internet, we can totally immerse ourselves in our favorite ballclub. As a result, we have been totally immersed in misery for more than 100 days.
Accountability is long dead, we know, and it's not the first time I've said it. Accountability is so dead that people get confused when you even bring it up. Sabathia isn't accountable for what he did, or for what he said after he did it. Steroid suspensions are quickly followed by multimillion-dollar contracts. Manny is never held responsible for anything, ever, on the field or off, since he's just being Manny, just as Justin's 8th-inning mid-May celebrations were just Justin being Justin. On this trainwreck of an Indians club, it's no different: Dolan says Shapiro's doin' a heck of a job, Antonetti says the training staff can only be judged based on "controllables," and Shapiro says it's not fair to blame the manager when the team loses — and never mind that his only job is to win.
Here at LGT — in the grand tradition of Trade Everyone! — we've decided to bring accountability back. As we slog through the final four weeks of this deathless season, your four humble authors (and a few friends) have decided to ask ... isn't it time somebody got fired for this crap? And, you know, maybe somebody more significant than Luis frickin' Isaac? We know who the bad players are — it's all right there on baseball-reference.com — but it's time we focused our prosecutorial glare on the people responsible for this mess. This club has been a disaster for two years running now, and by gum, it has got to be somebody's fault.
And even if it isn't, it's probably time to fire somebody anyway. You know, if you don't fire someone once in a while, people start to suspect that you don't even know how. This will be a 12-part series, and the first installment will be up later today.
- Part 1 — club owner Larry Dolan, by Andrew Humphries
- Part 2 — hitting coach Derek Shelton, by Ryan Richards
- Part 3 — pitching coach Carl Willis, by Jay Levin
- Part 4 — The Trainers, by Tyler Chirdon
- Part 5 — scouting director John Mirabelli, by Jay Schroeder
- Part 6 — The Mission, by Jay Levin
- Part 7 — Everyone And Everything!, by Andrew Humphries
- Part 8 — The Farm System, by Adam Van Arsdale
- Part 9 — The Fans, by Vince Grzegorek
- Part 10 — The Whole Damned System, by Ryan Richards
- Part 11 — manager Eric Wedge (check), by Adam Van Arsdale
- Part 12 — general manager Mark Shapiro, by Jay Levin